


Dead of Winter, AU Ending

by GreenThumbTarasova (kjoyp)



Category: Dead of Winter - Fandom, The Arcana Chronicles - Kresley Cole
Genre: Alternate Ending, Arcana Chronicles Fanfiction, Dead of Winter Fanfiction, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-14
Updated: 2015-07-20
Packaged: 2018-04-09 09:00:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4342301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kjoyp/pseuds/GreenThumbTarasova
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One possible ending to Dead of Winter, Jack's point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

How the end of Dead of Winter _might_ have happened.

 

Jack

 

I set out early with the army and Selena, leaving behind that note for Evangeline, and leaving all hope behind with it. Selena told me she'd be along directly, but I couldn't believe it. What did I have to offer besides hunger, and a fresh start in a cold and desperate world? Aric, her knight, had a heated mansion with a ready supply of food, water and sunlamps, servants, pretty clothes, and her _grand-m_ _è_ _re_. The whole reason she set off in the first place.

No, I knew she wouldn't be coming after us, not with all those incentives to stay. Sun didn't ever rise these days, so time was hard to keep track of unless you actually had a working watch. Some of the older models with gears still worked, but most of the electronic ones were fried. My my watch it was three in the morning when we left. Evie was exhausted. I figured she'd sleep another four hours then go whichever way she was headed. I couldn't sleep anyway. I'd slipped inside her tent to look at her one last time, steal one last kiss. No one would ever mean as much to me as she did. Her lips were red and pouting softly, her long softly curling golden hair still as much like silk as it ever was.

As long as she was safe and happy, I'd live with the outcome. I knew she cared about me, but how much? She was used to a soft life, and though she never complained, not once, I wanted more for her. I wanted her warm and fed, not cold and hungry. Death, as much as I hated him for what he'd done to all of us, had the best chance at giving her what she needed. At helping her survive this morbid game.

I knew even though he'd hurt her, tormented her, and gotten inside her head, that he truly loved her. That he'd to anything to win her.

I'd never forgotten the look on his face as he'd swept her tears away saying quietly, _“Can you comprehend what it's like to touch her after so long without? For this bliss, I'll risk the bullet. I'll_ take _the bullet.”_

 _Ouais. So would I. So would I._ Hell, he'd prepared a place for her decades ago. Just in case this time around, she happened to be someone that was capable of loving him. I couldn't imagine the kind of hell he'd lived through the last two millennia, but I was goan to learn that lesson in my lifetime. Not like he had, but it'd be close enough.

I left her tent and found him tending his horse next to her tent, one eye on me. I stepped toward him, jaw clenching. He stood and faced me, waiting. He'd said enough last night, telling me why she'd chose him. He was right and I'd decided then that I wasn't goan to wait around for her to tell me she'd chosen him. I just needed to hear...

We stood eye to eye. “You're leaving now?” He asked.

“ _Ouais._ ” The camp had been struck and loaded up, most of it. “You'll protect her.”

“With my every breath.” That confidence that had always irritated was now reassuring.

I kept on, asking, “You woan let her be harmed, not even by you?”

“I swear it. Even if she were to strike to kill me, I would not harm her.”

I nodded. “ _Bon_.” I looked away and gritted my teeth, refusing to cry, no matter how my soul ached.

“Jack.” Aric called. I looked at him. “I will do everything in my power to keep her safe and happy. You have no need to worry.”

I lifted my chin in thanks and headed out, not looking back.

 

We traveled west, south and west again, crossing valleys and ridges the scouts had marked out while I was gone, before entering a long winding valley. My army stretched out behind us over a mile. Maybe two.

Selena and I looked up as flakes started to fall from the sky. More ash? _Non_ , it was snow! “Least it's not more rain. Though, not sure this is any better. Mud I knew was a mess to travel though and slowed us down as trucks got stuck.

“You travel in snow before?” I asked Selena.

“Sure. Often enough. It can be better than mud, but we'll have to watch for ice under the snow and trucks can get stuck in snow as well as mud.” We talked over scenarios and I welcomed a new challenge to take my mind of the half of my heart I'd left behind.

Selena and I were marking a good path down the next big rise when my radio crackled with static.

“..ack!”

Part of my name. Could be one of the folks behind us calling for me. The radios had a pretty good range, but the big hills killed that advantage. We turned around and headed back up to get better reception,

“That sounded like Evie.” Selena said.

“ _Non._ Wouldn't be her.”  Couldn't get my hopes up, me.

“This is Jack.” I replied, waiting for an answer.

Selena gave orders for the other scouts we passed to take a turn marking the path while we dealt with something else.

After a long silence my radio crackled again, a partial message coming through. “..ack? ...se...me!” It was her!

I neared the top of the rise, my heart pounding with excitement. “Evie?! I can't hear you.” We stopped at the rise. Several trucks were nearing the top of our hill, the army looking like a giant glowworm as it wound it's way down and around the nearest hill, where it continued along and over a low hill and then out of site down the winding valley floor. We moved to the side to let them pass, our other scouts taking our place to lead them down the rise.

 

“I'm...ing...you.....an you hear me?” _Bon Dieu_ , please let her be saying what I thought she was saying. She couldn't be coming after me if she didn't intend to stay. I couldn't see her but these radios had a fair range. Selena grinned beside me. She'd been so confident Evie would come, the whole time. Even helping me write my letter.

 _“B_ _è_ _b_ _è_ _!_ Where are you?”

“I can see the Azey trucks! I'm on the rise looking over the valley!” She sounded...happy. Excited. Doubt she wouldn't sound like that if she was about to give me bad news. I got off my horse to pace in excitement and stretch my legs. Selena hopped down with a smirk beside me.

 _Merci Bon Dieu._ I still couldn't believe it. My hand was nearly shaking as I replied, my voice hoarse, “You coming with me, _peek_ _ô_ _n_? For true? You chose Ole Jack?”

I could _hear_ her smile when she came back with,  “Like you could get rid of me that easily, Cajun. I don't ever want to be apart again.”

Selena rolled her eyes and smacked my chest with her good hand, “Told you it would work, dumbass.”

 _Ouais_ , she'd been right. I laughed and picked her up, swinging her in a circle in my excitement. Selene smiled and told me, “We should go get her before she breaks her stupid neck.”

“I _can_ ride to you.” Evie told us. I could feel her annoyance at the suggestion she'd fall off her horse. She could heal from most anything and was more daring than most _filles_ , but just cause she'd heal up quick didn't mean I was willing to let her risk the pain. “Just tell me the best way down.”

 _“Non!”_ I shouted. “You stay put! The way's icy. I know where you are; we're comin' to you!”

I held my breath. She'd better not start down without help. She would break her fool neck that way. There was a better horse trail across the way on the other side of the ridge between us. We'd make our way North down the hill, up the next rise and East around the peak. We'd end up behind her but it was a bit quicker and less icy than the path down the rise the trucks had taken.

I helped Selena up and we made our way down as the trucks passed us heading up.

“Okay. I'll be here.” Evangeline said. Her voice warmed me all the way through. _Merci Bon Dieu_.

I started getting a feeling so I passed the word along to hurry out of the valley. I couldn't hardly believe it was real. I needed to hear her voice again. I'd never hear it enough.

“So this is snow, huh?”

I heard her laughter and it was the sweetest sound I'd ever hear. I'd listened to the alchemist's tape a hundred times over the last few months, looking at her pictures on my phone as I listened in my bunk at night. She kept me going. Kept me focused. She had to have something to come back to. She'd need more than me, she needed safety, food, firepower. Hadn't felt like much when I heard what she'd left behind at Death's, but it must have been enough if she was comin' back to me.

“Isn't it amazing? Everything looks so clean.”

 _True._ Clean and pure and right, just like her. We hit the bottom of the valley and snaked our way to the horse trail on the hill, quick as we could. “Still can't believe you're coming with me. I'm goan to take you home, Evangeline Greene!” She was just beyond the top of that hill around the curve. Everything would be perfect. “Goddamn, I love you, woman.”

My sense of danger peaked when she didn't reply. I clipped my radio to the strap on my chest and spurred my horse faster, Selena right behind me.

We were over half way up when her reply came back, and I wasn't what I expected. Her voice held fear when she yelled, “Jack! The Emperor's here! You've got to get away!

BOOM! BOOM!

Explosions rocked the ground and spooked our horses. I kept my seat but Selena was thrown, unable to hold on with a broken arm. My horse spun and I jumped off before I fell off, tagging a tree limb overhead and swinging off. I watched in horror as Selena tumbled down the trail. I screamed her name and she cried out as she tumbled over a ledge, falling down into the valley. I scrambled down shaking ground to the edge, looking over, at hell.

The valley floor had cracked and begun filling with lava from deep in the earth. A new mountain peak had risen and become a volcano, hot magma spewing up into the air and down the slopes, filling the valley and engulfing the people and transports down below. Selena got to her feet, favoring one leg on top of a truck, but she was surrounded by death, an island in the red flows that was sinking. Heat made the air shimmer.

“Selena!”

I didn't have a rope to throw her, no way to reach her in time. _Bon Dieu_! I watched in horror as she told me, “Remember your promise!”

 

Over the last months, we'd talked often. She'd shared all she knew of the games with me. The different powers of the cards and the ways players had died in games past. Her eyes looked haunted as she'd said, “Jack, I need you to promise me something.”

“ _Ouais_? What do you need, _fille_?”

“Promise me you won't let me die a slow death. Promise that if it comes down to it, you'll make it quick for me.”

 _Dieu_ , another soul on my conscience? My mere, Karen, Evie's mere, and now her?

I took her hand and looked in her eyes, “I woan let that happen Selena. I'll always have your back.”

She gave me a sad smile, “I know you do, and I have yours. But promise me, if I'm about to die anyway, and there's no way to get to me, you'll take me out yourself.”

My voice was rough with pain when I told her, “I promise.”

“Thank you.” she whispered, pulling me into her arms. I knew she loved me, and I loved her too, _mais_ never like that. _Mais, ouais_ I'd give her this much, and pray it never came to pass.

 

I nodded, my eyes watering, and pulled out my pistol. It was always ready and loaded. I flicked the safety off and took a steadying breath as the top of the truck sank and pulled the trigger as the lava licked at her boots. She'd just begun to scream when the bullet entered her eye, killing her instantly. She fell to her knees, falling into the red river, dissolving into nothing.

_Dieu pardonner moi. -_ God forgive me-

The last of the trucks left crested the rise opposite me and disappeared from sight. At least some had made it. A fraction. 

I pulled my radio and called, “Evie!” Silence. “Evangeline!” 

_Non, non, non._ She had to be alright. I scrambled up the hill, our horses long gone. Least I still had my pack. But none of it would mean anything if she'd died. 

The sky was brightening. Was the sun rising after being gone for months?

My arm tingled as I reached the edge. I glanced at my ...hand, then looked again. A moon with a bow and arrow over the top was there. 

I staggered against a tree trunk, shocked out of my mind. This wasn't possible...

But as voices I'd never heard before, and some I had filled my head, I began to understand.

 

A young man cackled madly.

 

- _Come, touch...but you'll pay a price_ .- That was ma belle's voice, but she taunted, teased.

- _Quake before me!_ \- The Emperor, must be.  It was his voice that laughed.

- _Blood will tell, Blood will run_.-

- _Don't look at this hand, Look at that one_ .- That'd be Finn.

- _Terror from the Abyss!_ \- Circe, the Priestess

 

I knew what this was. Selena had told me about the hidden card. The one that was activated when it killed an Arcana. But she'd never ever said she thought it was me. She'd said I was special, that I was capable of more than I knew, and that she'd have my six no matter what I chose to do. 

I cursed, a hand over her mark, holding it next to my chest. Still looking after me, even now. I felt stronger, my senses sharper. I owed that to her.

- _The Emperor struck_ .-

- _Took out the Archer_ .-

- _The Moon sets. The Moon rises...no more_ .-

_Coo-yô_ _n_. I'd known something was wrong with him. Known he was worried. I knew he wouldn't have let this happen if he could help it. 

I'd find the Emperor and kill him for her. The …. was  _still_ laughing. I gritted my teeth, hearing the Evangeline shriek in my head, the volume deafening. - _YOU WILL PAY!!-_

He would, we'd make sure of it. He didn't know that, or didn't care.  _Il sc_ _è_ _l_ _è_ _rat_ -the villain- was still laughing.

 

I turned away from the hell in front of me, ready to find  _ma belle_ . I knew she was alive at least, but I stopped in my tracks at the sight before me. An enormous wave of water traveled up the hill and into the air! Circe. It came crashing down into the valley. Cooling the magma and sending up great jets of steam.

 

I ran away from the steam. I could get across once the lava hardened, if it hardened, but for now I needed to find Evangeline. She could be hurt. When I made my way around the peak, to the rise I knew she was waiting, it was empty. I staggered to a stop, getting my breath, then slowly made my way over. The hill was covered with a dusting of white, a significant blood trail from a rock half way down, dotting the snow and puddling again at the top of the rise and down the other side. I swore at the size of the pile. It could belong to no one else, not with the huge vines dotting the hillside where she'd bled. There were two sets of horse tracks and I saw large footprints in the snow beside hers. There'd been a scuffle. Heavier male prints, he'd carried her, stopped at horse tracks and galloped away.

That much blood, she may have been unconscious. Selena told me the Evangeline could only die by beheading and fire. Since she hadn't been trapped in the lava, she'd still be alive.

I'd seen plenty of the Reaper's footprints over the last few days. I'd bet anything these were his. Those metal boots of his were distinctive. Probably following her to make sure she made it safe to me, even though she hadn't chosen him.

 

So now I had to pick a direction. If it were just up to me, I'd follow Evie, but there was a lot more to take into count. She was injured and needed care and safety while she healed. She needed her gran. She'd find both at Death's. The remainder of this half of the army was just over the second rise, likely in chaos after this blow. I needed to find the Emperor and end him, but that wouldn't be simple. He'd be happy to take my head and my mark now I was Arcana. And I needed to figure out how to fight, now that I had a new arsenal to battle with. And I needed to do that without hurting anyone else. Too many had already died.

 

I stared up at the sun peeking through the clouds, feeling strength and power fill me. Time to move. 

 

 

 


	2. Not a chapter, just AWESOME NEWS!!!

I just read this in my inbox this morning and I'm so incredibly excited!!!

 

**“First off—deep breath—the TV & Motion Picture rights have been optioned by a major studio!”**

**“Secondly, BOOK 4 (title to come) will release in the spring. You won’t believe what happens after Circe’s flood… . I’m delighted to announce that there will be a minimum of five installments in the Chronicles.”**

 

Words can't convey my excitement!  I knew, I just KNEW these books would make awesome movies!  I'm so glad those with the power to do so have decided to do so.


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